Door of Twilight, rewrite
by the red 1
Summary: As the darkness becomes stronger, the warriors of light find themselves racing to find the last of the keyblade masters. But in doing so, they find themselves facing dark users much stronger then before, and someone with more power then even the keyblade.
1. Prolog

Door of Twilight, 2.0

Chapter 1

Prolog

**START**

The sound of pages being turned was the only sound that came from Yen Sid's study. There, you could easily spot the old wizard pouring over a large, and clearly old, book that was most likely filled with magic spells. Sitting on his desk were several other open books, giving the impression that he had been at his desk looking for _something_ in those books. Letting out a sigh, Yen Sid held his right hand out, and muttered something in Latin. The response was another large book floating off a bookshelf, and over to Yen Sid's waiting hand.

Opening the first couple of pages, Yen Sid's face broke into a smile, before quickly turning back into his normal emotionless look. Taking out a pad of paper, Yen Sid began copying a long spell onto it, the spell having been written in a language that looked like a cross between Russian and Greek. After several minutes of writing, Yen Sid placed the book down, and placed the piece of paper in a pocket in the liner of his right sleeve. _"I must get this to Dorga and Unne before the council gathers."_ Yen Sid thought as he began gathering a few smaller books into a small backpack. However, before Yen Sid could continue, a bright flashing light started to emit from a small crystal orb on the side of his desk.

Looking at the orb, Yen Sid could see the entrance hallway of his tower and, more importantly, someone standing in it. The person standing in the lowest part of the tower was fairly tall, standing around 6'4. The person was wearing full body armor that looked like it was made from a type dragon's scales, but the armor was clearly metal. The armor was a dark purple color, except for the chest and shoulders, which were crimson. On the person's fingers there were a set of claws about three inches long. The helmet that the person was wearing had a black visor covering the person's face, and two crimson fins coming out the back of the helmet.

"_So he has been reborn…"_ Yen Sid let his though trail off as he saw the armored figure start to rapidly moving up the stairs in the tower. As Yen Sid saw the armored knight rapidly close the distance between the only two people in the tower, Yen Sid placed his hands on the crystal orb and began to chant something in Latin again. Up on top of Yen Sid's tower, a long wooden staff began to glow light green, as energy started to gather on the very tip of the staff. As the energy increased, an orb of pure magical energy was formed, coming to be about three feet around. Finally, after several seconds, the orb burst, causing thin beams of energy to go flying in all directions.

Taking a deep breath, Yen Sid picked up the book that he had copied the magic spell out of just a minute ago. After giving off a long sigh, Yen Sid conjured up the largest fire spell he knew which, do to his experience with magic, was large enough to engulf the book he was holding, his desk, and spread to the other bookshelves in the room, setting them ablaze. Staring down at the small backpack, which was one of the few things in the room, that wasn't stone, which hadn't been set on fire. Muttering one final spell in Latin, Yen Sid opened a small portal and threw the backpack threw, before quickly closing it.

Before Yen Sid had the chance to do anything else, the door to his study burst open, due to a well aimed kick from the knight. As the knight walked into the now burning room he let out a long sigh, which sounded somewhat mechanical and distorted. "_You know why I have come. Simply surrender the spell and I will leave your tower._" The knight's distorted voice said to Yen Sid, as the before mentioned knight stood maybe ten feet from the old wizard. However, instead of being scared, or angry, Yen Sid instead started laughing. "You can tell your master that he should enjoy his life while he can, for he shall not be reborn again."

Hearing Yen Sid's reply, the knight gave a sigh, as he held his right hand out to the side. Darkness then began to gather around the knight's hand, before it started taking shape. In the knight's hand was a long sword. The hilt and guard were a dull grey color, while the blade itself was a light green color. What stood out most about the blade was that about half way up the blade, it began spiraling, forming what looked like a drill by the time it got to the tip. "_If that is you're choice old man._" The knight said as he took the drill shaped Keyblade in both hands, and lunged towards Yen Sid.

"Your Majesty, would you please tell us what's going on?" Donald's high-pitched voice called after the small mouse king as he, along with Goofy, ran after the small king down the streets of Twilight Town. "Yen Sid sent a distress call out about an hour ago. It's not like him to call for help, so something must be wrong!" Mickey yelled over his shoulder as he rounded the corner and darted into the train station. Spotting the dark blue train with stars painted all over it, the small mouse king quickly darted on it, Donald and Goofy having to jump to avoid the doors closing on them. Almost as soon as the doors had shut, the train started to lurch forwards on the tracks, rapidly picking up speed. Almost as soon as the train had gone out of sight of the train station, there was a flash of green light as the train entered a small portal, taking it straight to Yen Sid's tower.

What the three residents of Disney Castle saw shocked them. Yen Sid's tower was all but burnt to the ground, while the owner of said tower was currently lying on the ground outside the tower, the armored knight standing over the old man's fallen form. As the three began running towards the old wizard, Mickey noticed that Yen Sid's right shoulder had been stabbed by the knight's Keyblade, blood covering most of Yen Sid's torso.

Giving a battle cry, Mickey leapt into the air, summoning his Keyblade at the same time. Rolling into a small ball, the mouse king quickly started to rotate in mid air to increase the amount of force he would hit with. However, as Mickey came down on the knight, the armored person simple raised his own Keyblade, easily knocking Mickey's Keyblade, not to mention the small king himself, to the side. _"So you are the disciple of Yen Sid?"_ The knight said as if he was unimpressed.

"I was once trained by Yen Sid, yes." Mickey said slowly as he picked himself off the ground. As Mickey readied his weapon for another attack, Donald and Goofy were finally able to catch up to the small king, each hold their respective weapon. _"If you were once trained by this old man, then you must know why I am here, and what I must do."_ The knight spoke up again, eyeing Donald and Goofy out of the corner of his eye. "I know you want to kill Yen Sid, and I'm not about to let that happen!" Mickey's voice sound determined, as he stared the knight down.

"_Very well, just remember I gave you the chance to run."_ The knight said, before diving at Mickey at an incredibly high rate of speed. Almost instantly, the knight was standing over Mickey, thrusting the drill shaped Keyblade down at the king's head. The said mouse king was able to quickly throw himself to the side, rolling into a ball as he rolled along the ground a couple yards. As the knight was pulling his sword out of the ground, Mickey seized the opportunity to launch an attack of his own. Pointing the tip of his Keyblade at the knight, Mickey quickly gathered a large around of magical energy, before releasing that energy in the form of a half a dozen orbs of light that went flying right at the dark knight.

As the knight ripped his Keyblade from the ground, he was forced to spin the blade in a quick rotation to knock the first two orbs of light to the side. Steeping back onto his left heel, the knight quickly pivoted to the side to let the third blast go flying past him, while bringing his Keyblade up to block the fourth. However, before the knight could do anything about the last two orbs, a powerful lightning spell crashed into the knight from above, curtsy of Donald. While the lightning spell didn't do much, if any damage to the knight, it was enough to stun him long enough for the two remaining orbs of light to crash into the knight's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Hey you big palooka, if you attack the king, you have to deal with us!" Donald yelled, as he and Goofy readied their weapons for another attack on the dark knight. As the knight pushed himself back onto his feet, you could clearly see two scorch marks on his chest where the king's magic attack, the spell being called Pearl, had hit. "_Foolish duck, that was not magic. No, __THIS__ is magic!_" The knight yelled as he pointed his Keyblade at Donald, and a large blast of light blue energy burst from the blade. As the energy rushed towards Donald, Goofy grabbed his feathered friend and, due to his height advantage over Donald, lifted the small wizard out of the path of the energy.

Since the energy had missed Donald, it kept on flying until it hit a solid object, which just happened to be the train that the three old friends had taken to get to Yen Sid's tower. As soon as the energy hit the train, the entire train was incased in a solid block of ice, freezing the entire seventy-foot long train in under three seconds. "_Now do you relies how outmatched you all are? Your attacks have done nothing to me other then irritate me, while as you can clearly see from what happened with this old man, my attacks are very effective."_ The knight said, motioning to Yen Sid's fallen form with his free hand.

"Well, the way I see it is that you must be all tuckered out after having to fight master Yen Sid for so long, so your attacks can't be at full power." Goofy spoke up, pointing out a very valid point. "_I grow tired of this nonsense."_ The knight said with a sigh, before suddenly lunging at Donald and Goofy and lightning fast speed. As the knight came flying in, Goofy leapt forwards, spinning around rapidly as the knight drew closer. When the knight was close enough, Goofy thrust his shield out; using the rotations to increase the amount of force the shield would hit the knight with.

However, right before the shield made contact with the knight, the dark warrior brought his Keyblade up and stopped the attack cold, all while rotating on his left heel, spinning around fully while pushing Goofy's shield away at the same time. Then, while Goofy's defenses were still down, the knight simply backhanded Goofy with his left hand, sending the humanoid dog flying almost twenty feet to the side.

"Goofy!" Donald yelled as he watched his friend go flying off to the side. "You'll pay for that! Thund-" Donald's spell was cut off half way by another blast of ice magic from the dark knight. Since Donald was so focused on casting his spell, he didn't notice the knight's attack until it was to late. When the magic attack hit Donald, his entire body was incased in a giant block of ice, more or less becoming a giant ice cube.

"Donald! Goofy!" Mickey yelled after seeing his two close friends by easily disabled by the mysteries knight. "_I told you, you were all outmatched from the beginning._" The knight's mechanical voice cut through the air again. As the two held their Keyblades ready to attack, Mickey noticed something he hadn't before: Yen Sid had started to move. While it wasn't very much, Yen Sid had moved about ten feet from where he had been lying when Mickey had first gotten there. What more, Yen Sid had actually started to stand up.

"I…told you before that…you would not get what you came here for." Yen Sid's voice was weak, and it was clear that he was having trouble standing, but something in his eyes told Mickey that he needed to get out of the way. _Fast._ As Mickey ran as fast as he could to the side, Yen Sid slowly raised his left hand, and a light green glow began to surround it. As the glow became brighter and brighter, the knight suddenly found that he couldn't move his feet. "HOLY!" With a massive cry, Yen Sid unleashed the attack he had been charging up on his left hand.

The result was incredible. From Yen Sid's hand burst a massive beam of green energy, so large that it would have engulfed his tower had it not already burnt to the ground. The knight, since his feet where still unable to move, was forced to try and block the attack. Thrusting his Keyblade forwards, the knight forced a large amount of darkness to erupt from the tip of his blade, causing an odd, "arrow" shaped shield of darkness. As the two magic power clashed, there was a blinding flash of green light. All that could be seen of the knight was his outline, completely covered in dark energy.

With one final, blinding burst of light, a huge pillar of dust and smoke shot into the air, blinding everyone who was close by. After several moments of not being able to see anything, the smoke and dusted cleared enough for Mickey to make out the outcome of the attack. Where Yen Sid's tower had once sat, there was now a large crater, about twenty feet side, roughly one hundred feet long, and ten feet deep. Where the knight had been standing the ground was fairly intact, the dark shield having clearly absorbed the bulk of the attack. Mickey could also make out what looked like small chunks of armor, all coated in blood.

"Come, my former student. There is much we must do, and little time to do it." Yen Sid's voice brought Mickey back to reality.

* * *

"Make sure you read pages 243 through 260 and answer questions 5 through 40!" Sora's biology teacher yelled after the class as they all made a mad break for the door, Sora being among them. "Sweet freedom of a three day weekend." Sora said to himself as he ran towards his lock to grab his geometry book. As he opened his locker, Sora heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. "So Tidus wants to know if you're coming to the blitz-ball game tonight." Riku's voice caused Sora to turn slight, while shoving his books into his over-stuffed red backpack.

"Yeah, I'll be there. And you'd better be too, I've been practicing some new moves that'll blow you away." Sora said with a slight laugh as he slammed his locker shut and started walking with Riku towards the front door of the school. "Do you really think I'd miss a chance to humiliate you like last time?" Riku said, giving a small laugh of his own. "Aw, whatever Riku. Anyways, I've got to get home; my mom said something about wanting me to help with dinner." Sora said as both he and Riku walked out the door, and started down a fairly wide dirt road. "Right, so I'll se you later then." Riku said as he started to run down a smaller road that branched off the main road.

* * *

"Riku!" Hearing a familiar voice calling his name, Riku skidded to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Turing around, Riku instantly spotted Kairi's red hair as she ran to catch up with her long time friend. "Do you…know…what's going on?" Kairi managed to get out in between gasping for breath. "No," Riku replied "All I know is that Sora called me and said that it was an emergency that I got over to his house as soon as I could." Taking a couple deep breathes, Kairi was finally able to slow her breathing back to normal, thus being able to talk normally. "Same here," Kairi said after a minute, "So we should probably get over there as fast as we can."

It didn't take more then three minutes to run the rest of the way over to Sora's house; Riku probably could have made it in less then half the time, but he didn't want to get to far ahead of Kairi. After spotting Sora's house, the two story house with a light blue shade of paint and white trimming, both teens simply jumped the fence rather then run around to the gate, which was located on the opposite side of the fence that they came to first. Give two rapid knocks on the door, Riku quickly jerked the door open, starting to say something along the lines of "Sora what's wro-"

"Riku! I just heard about what happened to the two of you!" The white haired teen was cut off as a blur of color suddenly was pulling him into a hug of some sort. Sora's mom, Yoruichi Hikari, was a rather emotional person, sometimes bordering on appearing to be psychopathic. Standing at 5'6, Yoruichi was already considerably shorter then both Sora and Riku; even Kairi was a little over an inch taller then her. It was easy to tell that Sora and Yoruichi were related at first glance. Yoruichi had waist long brown hair and bright blue eyes, Sora having clearly gotten those from her. Sora also seemed to have gotten his clothing style from Yoruichi, the latter wearing a pair of light brown shorts and a matching tan top.

"Mrs. Hikari…I find this somewhat disturbing…" Riku said, not really understanding why Yoruichi was hugging him. "Sora!" Kairi called into the house, "Your mom is hugging Riku and crying!" Kairi said, not finding any better way to describe the scene in front of her. The sound of Sora's over sized shoes could be heard as he ran from the back of the house to greet his friends. "MOM! I'm starting to get a little creped out by this." Sora said when he came around the corner and saw his mom hugging Riku, while bawling her eyes out.

"Alright, mom I'm going to take Riku and Kairi to the island and explain things, okay?" Sora said as he finally managed to get his mom to sit down in a nearby chair. "All right Sora, you've got some explaining to do." Kairi said as she and Riku followed Sora out the front door.

* * *

"Do you mind telling me why your mom was having an emotional break down?" Riku said as the three friends steeped onto the shores of the small play island they spent so much time at. "You didn't tell the real reason we were gone for a year and a half, did you?" Riku asked, not waiting for Sora to explain himself. "Of course not!" Sora shouted, "If I had done that, she wouldn't have let use leave the house."

"Actually, I think she might have been having a break down because of us." A new voice caused Riku and Kairi to turn and look at the small shack over by the waterfall. Standing there were three people. Three _female_ people to be exact. Standing in the middle was a girl who looked to be around seventeen. She had light brown hair that came down a few inches above her shoulders, except for a long strand of hair that was tied in a braid that fell down to the middle of her back. She had fairly pale skin, and she had two different colored eyes, the right being light green, the left being a dark blue. As for what she was wearing, the girl was dressed in almost knee high dark blue boots, a pair of dark blue shorts with a blue and white skirt cover on her left leg. She was also wearing a white tank top that came down to about her bellybutton with pink lining on the bottom, and a pink scarf. You could also spot what looked like a pair of pistols at her side.

The girl standing on the left had a far more…. scary look to her. Looking to be around eighteen, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to call this girl a "goth." Dressed in a pair of black leather pants, and steel toe boots, the girl had an ominous presence around her. Wearing a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and what looked to be about five belts around her waist, she really completed the whole "scary look." The girls had very pale skin, and black hair that seemed to have gray lining. She also had a sword strapped to her back: a long black blade with silver lining, and a solid steel hilt that had a large skull on it.

The final girl had a much more "up beat" feeling to her. Looking to be around sixteen, this girl had semi tan skin, and was sporting a smile on her face, unlike the other two who looked nervous and board, respectively. Having light green eyes, and bright blond hair that was mostly hanging freely out of a light blue headband she was wearing, other then several strands that had been braided. As far as clothing went, she had…a lot less articles of clothing on then the other two females with her. Wearing a pair of light green shorts with several pouches on it, and a yellow bikini top, the "longest" piece of clothing she had on was a scarf that was wrapped around her neck about three times, and was several shades of color. Starting at the ends, the scarf was a bright yellow, which turned into a dark orange about half way up, till it finally turned to red at the section wrapped around her neck. You could also spot two daggers with large, circle like guards on them, in the inner part of the guard being yellow, the outer being red, and curved red blades.

"Riku, Kairi, these are the Gullwings." Sora said, gesturing to the three females.

* * *

Travers Towns was, not surprisingly, a very dull world. Being in eternal night, the world had a very gloomy feeling to it. Add that with the fact that most of the buildings were not in the best of shape, and most people would wonder why anyone would go there by choice. But then again, Cloud Strife wasn't like most other people. Walking through the town square without so much as giving a second glance at the people around him, Cloud was quickly making his way towards the Second Distract.

"_He's here somewhere…"_ Cloud thought as he could literally feel an incredible amount of dark energy coming from somewhere in Travers Town. Seeing a bright glow coming from the sky, Cloud looked up and immediately spotted a very familiar symbol being formed in the sky. The symbol looked like three triangles, one upside down, and two slanted at an angle, inside a circle. Suddenly, a long beam of light burst from the center of the glowing symbol, falling somewhere in the Second Distract.

Cloud was already making a dash for the Second Distract.

* * *

"_My master, forgive my incompetents."_ The armored knight said on his hands and knees. The knight, and the person he was talking to, where in a large white room, which oddly enough was decorated in a "flower" theme. "**Do not worry about this my disciple, Yen Sid is the strongest of the surviving council members.**" A loud voice boomed, sounding like it was coming from all over the room. The voice also had an immensely evil sound to it that would make a normal man or woman shudder in fear. "**I have a much more important task that needs your attention at the moment.**" The voice said again, a scroll appearing in front of the knight in a burst of dark energy.

"**But heed my warning: failure from this point forwards will be met with only death.**" The voice said again, as the light inside the room seemed to drain from it, leaving nothing but total darkness.

* * *

"Yoruichi, I'm hooooooooooooooooooome." A deep, yet surprisingly immature sounding voice came from the entrance hall of the Hikari's home. Despite hearing the voice calling her, Yoruichi did not move from her spot at the kitchen table. Instead, she just continued to stare blankly at one spot in the kitchen table, not being able to take her eyes off it. The sound of footsteps could be heard coming towards the kitchen, before stopping just behind the brunette. "Yor, what's wrong?" The same voice asked, suddenly sound very serious.

"Those…those _bastards_ chose Sora. And I think they got Riku to." Yoruichi practically spat the twelve words out as she continued to stare down at the table. Even without looking behind her, Yoruichi could tell that the man behind her, her husband, and stiffened at what she had spoke. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he spoke up again. "We'll need to tell Ryo."

**END**

It took me forever to finish this, due to school and such. Anyways, for those of you who haven't figured it out by now, this is a rewrite of my first real story. And for those of you that read my old story, I'm keeping all the pairings the same, just changing the plot around so that it's more doable. (And won't end up having the ten or so characters that somehow found there way into the story the served no purpose.) And for those of you who don't know, the pairings are/will be: Riku x Yuna, Cloud x Quistis, Leon/Squall Rinoa, and some Sora x Kairi thrown in for the fun of it.


	2. Crossing Paths

Door of twilight, rewrite

Chapter 2

Crossing paths

The rhythmical tapping of a walking stick was the only sound that was heard deep within a cave on a small backwater world. If someone bothered to venture back far enough into the cave, you would see what appeared to be a small camp sight set up. Standing in the middle of the small camp sight was a large person standing at almost ten feet tall, wearing a dark blue cloak, hood covering the person's face. In the person's hand was a large spear, which was currently being used as a walking stick. In the person's other hand was a small crystal orb, which was currently glowing a bright green color.

"_It's time,"_ the person, voice easily being recognizable as that of a man's, spoke just above a whisper.

* * *

Ever since the fall of Xehanort's heartless, the world of Travers Town had been a fairly peaceful world. Having no real reason to go there, the heartless had mostly stayed away from Travers Town, preferring to go after larger, more populated worlds. It was because of the lack of danger that the people were so startled to see a bright beam of light come crashing down in the middle of the second distract. The people were even more surprised when a human man with long white hair, one black angle wing, and a sword roughly ten feet long rose from the center of the impact zone of said beam of light.

But what surprised people the most is when they actually recognized the man with the wing. It was Sephiroth, the most talented swordsman the Radiant Garden, or almost any other world for that matter, had ever seen. Unsheathing his freakishly long sword from its equally long sheath at his side, Sephiroth raised his blade, the legendary Masamune, into the air above his head. Then, pausing slight for dramatic effect, Sephiroth slowly pointed the blade at a person standing across the Distract.

The person that Sephiroth was pointing at was a woman who looked to be around the age of twenty four, possibility twenty five. She had long black hair that fell down just above her waist, and had very light blue eyes. Her semi-pale skin was brought out by her black knee-length skirt and matching tank top. Over her tank top, she had a long-sleeve, zip-up light blue sweater, that was unzipped, and fell down to around her knees. Upon seeing that the legendary swordsman Sephiroth was pointing his blade at her, the woman started backing up, not knowing the white-haired man's intentions. However, she was stopped when she ran into the cement wall behind her.

In a flash, Sephiroth was lunging at the girl, sword raised over his head for a quick strike. The woman, as well as everyone else in the Distract, was frozen in their place, unable to move. The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard throughout the Distract.

Before Sephiroth knew what had happened, he had one person blocking his sword strike at the woman, and another standing next to him pointing a rife at his head. The person in front of him was a man who looked to be around twenty three years old. He had light blonde hair that was spiked straight up, and light blue eyes. Across the left side of his face was a jagged black tattoo that started on his forehead, arced out, came back in sharply near his eye, and then went straight down towards his jaw. He was wearing a pair of blue shorts, a black t-shirt, and black vest. On each of his hands was a glove, with a metal bar across the knuckles that the man was using to keep Sephiroth's sword from cutting the girl in half.

The other person was also a man who looked to be around twenty six, with auburn hair that was tied back in a ponytail. On the person's head sat a black cowboy hat. The man was wearing a purple t-shirt with a kaki colored long jacket over that, as well as a pair of black jeans, and tan cowboy boots. In the man's hands was a high power double-barreled rifle, with a laser sight and high power scope attached to it.

Upon seeing the two men clearly ready to fight, Sephiroth spoke up. "And just what do you two think you are doing?" Sephiroth said in a slightly smug voice, looking into the eyes of the cowboy. "That's what we should be asking you," The blond spoke up, still holding Sephiroth's blade away from the girl behind him. "Oi, Rinoa, get out of here already." The cowboy spoke up, taking a quick glance at the girl standing behind the blond, Rinoa.

Hearing this, Rinoa's eyes went wide as she stared at the two people in front of her. "You heard Irvine, get going!" The blonde yelled over his shoulder, which caused Rinoa to snap out of her trance-like state, and start running towards the gate that led to the Third Distract. Seeing Rinoa flee, Sephiroth started to chuckle slightly, before turning back towards the two in front of him. "You two are either really full of yourselves, or just plain stupid," Sephiroth said with a slight smirk on his face.

"Go to hell," The cowboy, or Irvine as the blonde had called him, said before he pulled the trigger of his rifle, which caused a thunderous "boom."

* * *

"_My lord, it is as you predicted: the last of the Chasers are gathering at Disney Castle, and the Key Bearers are currently enroot to said location."_ The armored dark knight spoke as he bent down to one knee. "**Very good, it will not be long before they begin the search for the Lost Two.**" The booming voice came, again seemingly coming from every part of the room. After waiting a moment to make sure that his master was finished speaking, the knight spoke up once more. _"My lord, I have completed the task you have given me, what do you wish me to do?"_

"**Nothing yet Xan, nothing yet.**"

* * *

Poor Irvine never had a chance. As the rifle's blast came flying out of the barrel, Sephiroth had already been enveloped in an orb of darkness, which dispersed as soon as Irvine's shot made contact with it. Then, still moving at an incredible speed, Sephiroth warped out of the dark portal behind Irvine, thrusting the long blade at said cowboy. Before Irvine knew what had happened, Sephiroth had plunged his blade into the sharp shooter's right shoulder, electing a scream of pain from said person. Then, adding insult, as well as a large dose of pain to the injury, Sephiroth literally lifted Irvine off the ground using the sword that was still impaled in the cowboy's shoulder, and swung his sword in a wide arc, causing the blade to tare out of Irvine's shoulders, sending the cowboy crashing through a near by store window.

"You bastard!" The blonde yelled as he lunged at Sephiroth, pure furry behind his eyes. Raising his right fist, the blond threw a powerful punch at Sephiroth's face, clearly intending to take the swordsman's head off. However, by the time the blonde's fist even came close to Sephiroth's face, the swordsman had already teleported away from the blonde. Hearing the sound of Sephiroth's blade cut through the air behind him, the blonde threw himself to the ground, using a shoulder roll to end up in a crouch. Quickly standing to his feet, the blonde continued to glare at the white haired swordsman.

"I'm going to offer you a way to save yourself a lot of pain: turn around and leave now, and I won't kill you or your rifle wielding friend." Sephiroth said with a slight smirk, as the blonde was clearly getting madder by the minute. "Like hell," The blonde yelled as he rushed at Sephiroth again, attacking with a spinning kick this time. Despite moving at speeds any normal human would have had trouble avoiding, Sephiroth wasn't a "normal" person. By the time the kick was within two feet of Sephiroth, said swordsman had already teleported behind the blonde.

The blonde quickly spun around, expecting to find Sephiroth's Masamune already on a collision course with his body, instead, the blonde found Sephiroth holding his right hand forwards. The blonde got over his initial shock when he saw a dark red light form in the center of Sephiroth's palm, but by then it was too late. A dark crimson flame erupted from Sephiroth's hand, completely engulfing the blonde in the dark magic attack. When the smoke cleared, the blonde slumped to his knees, all while coughing up a large quantity of blood.

Sneering down at the fallen fighter, Sephiroth quickly turned around, before entering another dark portal.

* * *

After Irvine and the blonde had screamed for her to run, Rinoa had run as fast as her legs to carry her towards the Third Distract. Trying desperately to block out the sounds of her friends screaming as they battled Sephiroth, Rinoa had only one thought on her mind. Get help. "_Irvine, Zell, please be alright,"_ Rinoa thought as she rounded the last corner in the small ally way that lead to the Third Distract. However, she rounded the corner just in time to see Sephiroth emerge from a dark portal, the swordsman already thrusting his long blade at her. Not having time to do anything else, Rinoa closed her eyes and waited for the killing blow to come.

And suddenly found herself flying back into the hard brick wall behind her, without a stab wound anywhere on her body. Let her gaze drift down, Rinoa noticed something strange: she was holding a sword of some type. However, this was by no means an ordinary sword. The blade itself was roughly three and a half feet long, with the hilt adding about another foot in length. The blade consisted of two long, circular bars that ran parallel to each other until the tip of the sword, where they each bent inwards ninety degrees to make a rectangle like shape. Extending from each side of the box like tip were two white angel wings, one branching out off each point where the two bars bent inwards. The hilt was a light gold color, which oddly seemed to go with the solid white blade and angel wings at the top. At the top of the hilt there were two more white angel wings that went out about five inches, then turned ninety degrees and went straight down until the bottom of the hilt, where the bent in another ninety degrees and connected back to the hilt. Dangling from the bottom of the hilt was a small keychain that looked like a solid white heart, with a pair of angel wings coming out of the "back" of the heart.

"Wha-what is this?" Rinoa asked in a state of shock, momentarily forgetting that the only person close enough to hear her was currently trying to kill her. So imagine her shock when Sephiroth answered her. "That would be a Keyblade; a weapon of near limitless power and potential." Sephiroth said as he stared at Rinoa with a cold glare, "A weapon that shouldn't be wielded by children who have never fought a day in their life." Sephiroth said as he raised his Masamune, and thrust it at Rinoa, cutting off whatever she had been planning on saying.

Acting on pure instinct, Rinoa raised her newly acquired weapon up in a clumsy attempt to block the strike. However, she found that it was enough. As soon as Sephiroth's blade was within six inches of Rinoa's body, a bright white field of energy flashed for a brief second, deflecting Sephiroth's attack, and sending Rinoa crashing back into the wall with a thump. "So its true that each Keyblade has a unique ability," Sephiroth said to himself more then Rinoa. Taking several steeps back, Sephiroth raised his blade again, before slashing at Rinoa in a horizontal slash. Again there was a bright energy field that flashed just before the blade hit her, however this time she was thrown back down the ally that she had just ran through to get to where she was now.

As Rinoa flew down the ally, Sephiroth lunged after her, having to thrust his blade straight forwards because of the lack for room in the ally. Hit the energy field with as much strength as he could muster, which was a lot, Sephiroth hit Rinoa's barrier hard enough to send her flying out of the ally, and crash into the brick wall of the lower part of the Second Distract. As Rinoa fell to the ground, Sephiroth walked forwards, casting a quick glance over towards where he had left the blonde, or Zell as Rinoa had called him.

Sephiroth saw a blonde all right, but not the one he was expecting. While Zell was still lying on the ground where he had been before, standing in front of Zell, band-aid wrapped sword in hand, was Cloud. Letting out a chuckle, Sephiroth spoke up, "Well it looks like this is going to be more fun the I thought." Acting on some unknown signal, both swordsmen lunged at each other, freakishly large sword held back ready to strike. However, Cloud was about to learn that something drastic had changed since the last time the two swordsmen had fought.

As the two residents of Radiant Garden rushed towards each other, Sephiroth suddenly accelerated in speed, moving about three times as fast as he was a split second ago. Having been caught off guard, Cloud switched from offence to defense, pushing off against the wall next to him, thus pushing himself to the side, and away from Sephiroth's attack. However, by the time Cloud looked behind him, he saw that Sephiroth was already behind him, launching another attack.

Having no time to bring his sword around to block the attack, Cloud was forced to lean backwards to the point where his feet were off the ground, and he was completely parallel with the ground. As Sephiroth's blade went flying over him, Cloud brought his own sword around to knock the white haired man's to the side. Then, after pulling his legs in close to his torso, Cloud rotated backwards, making a "back flip" of sorts, landing on his feet. Then taking advantage of the opening he had made by knocking Sephiroth's blade to the side, Cloud struck with a quick thrust at Sephiroth's chest.

Cloud was shocked at how fast Sephiroth had managed to move through the dark portal. Sephiroth had disappeared through another dark portal a spilt second after Cloud had launched his attack. Realizing that Sephiroth would most likely take advantage of the fact Cloud was open to a counter attack from behind, Cloud quickly spun around, sword ready to strike. However, he just hadn't been able to move fast enough. Almost as soon as he had turned around, Sephiroth's blade was tearing through Cloud's right shoulder, causing a rather large amount of blood to be sprayed in all directions.

"_If I hadn't turned around, that probably would have ended up going through my heart,"_ Cloud thought to himself, still in a slight state of shock. _"What the hell is going on? Sephiroth was never this fast before,"_ Cloud thought as a large wave of pain hit him, causing him to have to fight back a scream. With a large amount of difficulty, Cloud lifted his sword back into his battle stance, trying to ignore the red-hot pain coming from his shoulder. "You should really learn when to give up Cloud," Sephiroth said with a sneer of his face as he watched the blonde swordsman struggle to hold his sword.

"Don't forget you could have walked away," Sephiroth said as he swung his sword backwards, then his entire body seemed to disperse into a billion partials of darkness. The next thing Cloud knew, he was on his hands and knees screaming, with blood gushing out of his body from two long cuts, from his waist to shoulders. When Cloud managed to look up again, he saw Sephiroth standing in the same place as a minute ago, smirking at the fallen swordsman. Coughing a large amount of blood up, Cloud could feel his vision going blurry as he stared at Sephiroth.

"Now lets make things a little more interesting," Sephiroth said, trying to hold back a laugh. Walking backwards about twenty feet, Sephiroth held his blade into the air, which promptly started to glow a dark crimson color. Taking a glance back at the burnt Zell, Sephiroth saw that Rinoa had made it over to the blonde during the course of the battle between himself and Cloud. "Will you save yourself, or the girl?"

Taking a glance back at Rinoa with blurring vision, Cloud's eyes widened briefly. _"That's…she…Leon."_ Cloud thought, his body having all but shut down from blood loss. _"What the…hell, no…one else…is…going to…do it,"_ Cloud thought as his head slumped down to the ground, eyes closing. Seeing this, Sephiroth continued to sneer at Cloud's fallen form. "Well, looks like you both die," Sephiroth said to himself with a chuckle. However, Sephiroth wouldn't be laughing much longer.

Just before Sephiroth launched whatever attack he had in mind, a powerful energy seemingly erupted from Cloud, who was suddenly surrounded in a light blue aura. Sephiroth was even more surprised when Cloud stood up, blood no longer gushing from his wounds. Holding the Buster Sword over his head with just his right arm, Cloud opened his eyes, which now seemed to be glowing a bright, light blue color. "_I'll kill you,"_ Cloud said, his voice sounding like two different people had said it at once.

Once again acting one some unknown signal, both swordsmen brought their swords down, causing a dark crimson and light blue blast of energy to be launched from each respective sword. When the two blasts of energy collided in mid air, there was a flash of light that could have drowned out the sun, along with an ear-shattering explosion. When people could finally see again, what they saw amazed them. A large, twenty by twenty crater was in the middle of the Second Distract, starting right where the two attacks had hit. As for the two people that had launched the attacks, Cloud was lying on the ground, blood once more gushing from his wounds.

As for Sephiroth, he was looking down at the bottom left corner of his leather trench coat, which had been blasted clean off by Cloud's attack. Closing his eyes, Sephiroth reheated his sword, glancing at Cloud's fallen form. "Next time Cloud, next time," Sephiroth said, before opening a dark portal and steeping through it.

END CHAPTER

Man, it took me a lot longer then I thought it would to write this. Anyway, I like the way this chapter turned out, the way it had a more game-ish/anime-ish fell to it. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and your reviews are always appreciated. (I try to respond to every review I get.)


	3. The start of something

Door of Twilight, rewrite

Chapter 3

The start of something

"So…who do you think he is?" Zell asked, looking at the bandaged Cloud, several IV's going into his arm. After Sephiroth had teleported off Travers Town, the residents of the world had moved quickly, getting the three injured men to the hospital. However, due to the extent of his injuries, people had been forced to give Cloud several potions just so he would survive the trip. Irvine and Zell, while still having pretty bad wounds, had been in much better shape then Cloud. "I don't know, but I'm surprised that he's still alive after losing so much blood." Came the voice of a woman who appeared to be around twenty six.

Standing in the room with Rinoa, Irvine, and Zell were two other women. The first, the one who had just spoken, had dark black hair, the bangs covering the left side of her face, while the back was pulled up into a topknot, several stands of braided hair falling down to the middle of her back. Her visible eye was a burnt orange color, and combine that with her stare that could rival Cloud, or Leon, this woman wasn't someone you would want to try and mess with. Around her neck were several styles of necklaces, while she had three silver earrings in the top half of each ear, and a single red jewel earring in the lobe of each ear. She was wearing a low-cut fur-lined black dress, which displayed her cleavage. The dress she was wearing had the front of it cut open from just below the waist down, creating a cape like effect. Starting from where the front of the dress was cut open, all the way to the woman's ankles, were a large selection of interlocking belts that made a sort of make shift bottom half of her dress.

The other woman was around twenty seven. Having light blond hair that was tied back except for to long bangs that fell past her jaw line, this woman had a more "official" look then the other. She was wearing a pink zipper top that was tipped all the way up like a turtleneck would be. She was also wearing a matching pink skirt, purple arm warmers with black gloves, and a pair of dark red boots. On the bridge of her nose sat a pair of small, silver colored glasses. At her side was a long, coiled, silver whip hanging on a part of her belt.

"Well right now it doesn't matter who he is, the fact is that he might not make it through the night, even with all the potions and cure spells that we've used on him." The blonde woman spoke up, using the index finger on her right hand to push her glasses back a ways. "Another thing we should be wondering about is what that sword was that Rinoa had," The dark haired girl said. After Sephiroth had left, the Keyblade had disappeared, returning to wherever it is they come from in the first place.

"I don't know what it was, but Sephiroth called it a Keyblade," Rinoa said, biting her bottom lip. Letting out a slight sigh, the dark haired girl spoke up again. "So lets go over what we know: Our best guess as for why Sephiroth attacked Rinoa is because of this 'Keyblade;' Sephiroth was able to easily pound Irvine and Zell into the ground without any trouble what so ever; And that our mystery blonde here was just barley able to fight Sephiroth off, and nearly died in the process."

"Hey, we put up a good fight considering who we were going up against, Lulu!" Zell yelled, clearly not liking the part about Irvine and himself getting "pounded into the ground." Letting out another sigh, the dark haired girl, or as Zell called her, Lulu responded to Zell's outbreak. "Look, it doesn't really matter what happened, all we know is one of the most talented swordsmen Radiant Garden has ever known is coming after Rinoa!"

Seeing the tension in the room was getting to high for comfort, Irvine decided to change the subject. "All right, I think we all need to just chill for a while. Rinoa, your dad said that he would be back on Travers Town within the next two hours, and asked that Lulu, Zell, and I wait with you for him at your house." Irvine said, causing Zell and Lulu to momentarily forget that they had been arguing. "He also asked Quistis to stay with our mystery guy with a couple armed guards outside the door, just in case." Irvine added, looking at the blonde woman.

"O-okay," Rinoa said, still biting her bottom lip. As Rinoa, Zell, Irvine, and Lulu left the room, Quistis noticed that two men in full black armored suits had already taken their place outside the door, high-powered sub-machineguns in hand. As the group of four pasted through the door, the two men quickly saluted, not moving from their spot in front of the door. As the door closed, Quistis walked over to a chair that was a couple feet from the door and took a seat.

* * *

"The King wants to see us?" Kairi asked in a state of confusion, staring at the three girls in front of her, the Gullwings. Nodding her head, the brunet replied to Kairi's statement. "We don't really know the details either, we just know that a message from the king showed up at Radiant Garden asking from the entire Restoration Committee to come to Disney Castle, and for the three of us to come get the three of you." The brunet, or as she had introduced herself moments ago, Yuna said.

"Well, it can't be that bad, can it?" Sora said from his current position near the deformed paopu tree. "I mean, we beat Xehanort's heartless, and Organization XIII, so there shouldn't be anything left to threaten the worlds, right?" The spiky haired teen said, trying to think positively. "I wouldn't be so sure Sora," Riku added, leaning against the paopu tree with his arms crossed. "We may have taken out Xehanort's heartless, and Xemnas, but that just means that there's a power vacuum that other people will try to fill." The white haired teen said, eyes closed as he thought over the many possible reasons the king would want to see them.

"Hey, we're not saying that there is some new all powerful threat to the worlds, just that the King wants to see you." The gothic girl, or Paine as she had called herself, said with a slight sigh. "Well, I guess we should get going soon," Sora said, before pausing a long moment. "Do you think that we should even tell our parents?" Sora asked, looking over at Riku, who simple shook his head. "Sora, if you tell your mom that you so much as had a dream where you even considered leaving the island again, she'd lock you in the basement until you were thirty." Riku said bluntly, causing Sora to wince at the mental image of him as a thirty year old, still wearing the magically enhanced clothes he was wearing now.

"Point taken," Sora muttered as he managed to shake the mental image out of his head. "You mom may get pissed off, but it will be easer telling her that we simply left to go help the Gullwings out with a problem then having to tell them that a three foot high king summoned use to another world." Riku said as he pushed off from the paopu tree and walked past Sora. Giving another smile, the blond member of the Gullwings, Rikku as she had called herself, spoke up for the first time since they had introduced themselves. "Well, that was easier then I thought," She said as the group of six teens started walking towards where the Gullwings had hidden their Gummi ship. "I mean, we weren't attacked by heartless, we had no problem convincing the parents, and no all powerful dark users tried to stop us."

* * *

"Damn, they already took off!" Yoruichi heard her husband hiss from his position over at the window. Yoruichi's husband, better know as Gann Hikari to everyone else, was a man in his mid forties, but still looked to be thirty something. Standing at six foot three, Gann was really one of the few people on the island who was still taller then Riku, the before mentioned having shot up to six foot one in the year and a half he had been gone. Gann had sandy blonde hair that, like his sons, was in gravity defying spikes. Gann had hazel colored eyes, and fairly tan skin. Currently, he was still dressed in his work clothes; a standard pair of black jeans, white long-sleeve shirt, apron, and chiefs hat.

"I guess we have no choice then," Yoruichi said as she rose from her seat. Getting the message, Gann turned from the window, and quickly made his way over to Yoruichi, who had already started to walk through the house. In a matter of seconds, the pair had come to a door that leads to the basement. Walking down the creaking old staircase, Yoruichi flicked a switch that caused a dim light to illuminate part of the dust-covered room. Quickly shifting through the massive amount of boxes, and other objects that had been stored down there, the pair of parents quickly located what they had been looking for: two fairly average size wooden boxes.

Reaching under his neckline, Gann produced a small skeleton key that had a piece of chain running through one of the holes in the key, turning it into a make shift necklace. Glancing over at his wife, Gann saw that Yoruichi had also pulled out a skeleton key turned necklace. _"Damn old bastards,"_ Gann thought bitterly to himself as he inserted his skeleton key into the wooden box he had grabbed. He didn't even have to turn around to tell that Yoruichi had already inserted her key into her own box. Then, simultaneously turning the two keys, both locks gave a loud clicking sound as both boxes open a crack.

* * *

Hearing the door beside her slide open, Quistis quickly stood to her feet, dropping the book she had been reading on the table next to her. Leading Rinoa, Zell, Lulu, and Irvine into the room was a man who appeared to be in his early fifties. He had neat black hair that was combined back, with several gray streaks running along the sides. The man was wearing a black dress suit, with a white dress shirt under the jacket. On the jacket hung several medals, as well as a dark red tie that was around his neck, tucked neatly inside the jacket. Upon seeing the man with the group Quistis quickly brought her right hand up into a salute.

"General Caraway, I was under the belief that you wouldn't be here for several more hours," Quistis said as the older man, General Caraway, returned her salute. "There is no possible way I could stay away after hearing what happened here earlier," The General said as he turned his gaze over towards the still unconscious form of Cloud. "So, I take it that's the man I was told about?" The General asked turning his glance from Cloud to the giant band-aid wrapped Buster Sword.

"Yes, this is the man who battled Sephiroth," Quistis spoke up, causing the General to look back at her. As the General's gaze focus solely on the Buster Sword, the older man spoke up again, "Out of mild curiosity, how much does that sword weigh?" The question seemed to catch the other people present in the room off guard, as no one spoke up for a minute. However, once he noticed that no one else was going to say something, Zell answered the General's question. "Uh, I'd say it's around one hundred and fifty pounds," Zell said, rubbing the back of his head slightly.

Upon hearing the answer, the General paused a moment, as if trying to choice the right words to say. "Miss Trepe, do you recognize anything…familiar about this sword?" The General finally asked, looking back at Quistis. Not expecting the question, it took Quistis a moment to respond. "No sir, I don't recognize anything familiar about the sword," Quistis said, still puzzled why the General would ask such a question. Hearing Quistis's response, the General brought one hand to the hilt of the sword in question, and used his index finger to push some of the cloth around the hilt back away from one spot on the hilt. "How about now?"

Taking several steps closer, Quistis focused on the spot that the cloth had been cleared from, and couldn't help but take a deep breath at what she saw. While it was fairly faded, a symbol was still visible on the hilt of the sword. It looked like a hexagon, with a large capitol "S" in the center of it. "You mean he…was part of SOLDIER?" Quistis asked, catching the attention of everyone else in the room. "I don't know, but this sword was clearly made for _someone_ who was in SOLDIER," The General said, still staring at the Buster Sword.

Finally turning his gaze from the Buster Sword, the General spoke up once more. "If we go by the fact that this man had a weapon that bares the mark of SOLDIER, then it would be safe to say the either he is from Radiant Garden, or knows someone from Radiant Garden." Scratching his head slightly, Zell spoke up, "No offence or anything, but how does that help us? I mean, we still don't know: who he is; what this Keyblade thing is; or why Sephiroth was after the Keyblade." Shaking his head slightly, the General turned to face Zell. "It may not help use directly, but it is an interesting fact."

* * *

After retrieving the items that had been inside the older wooden boxes, it hadn't taken Gann or Yoruichi very long to begin their plan. The majority of items inside the boxes had been a change of clothing for each person, as well as a couple weapons. Gann was now sporting a long brown trench coat, black jeans, and a black t-shirt. On the back of his trench coat, there was the outline of a sliver crown, very much like the necklace Sora always wore. At his side was a katana that was roughly four feet long, with a liver colored four-pointed star shaped guard, black hilt, and silver sheath. Finally, Gann was wearing a black wide rimmed hat, which pushed several spiked bangs down in front of his left eye.

As for Yoruichi, she was now wearing a light brown tank top with golden lining around the collar, light brown jeans with matching gold lining around the ankles. Over her tank top, Yoruichi had a gray colored vest that came down about half way down her back. One her left hand, there was a somewhat bulky black bracelet, with a symbol of an upside down heart connecting with a right side up three leaf clover. One the middle finger of her right hand, there was a long metal sheath that covered her finger completely. Finally, she had what looked like a pair of flintlocks at her side.

"I guess the only thing that's left is to talk to Ryo," Gann said, seeing Yoruichi had fully changed into the clothes she had gotten from the box. Giving a slight nod, Yoruichi and Gann turned and began the long walk across the island, heading towards the opposite side of the island. Ignoring the strange looks they were getting from people in the streets, the two continued walking, clearly having a purpose in mind. Most days it would have taken them almost ten minutes to make it to their destination, but today they made it in just under three.

Their destination wasn't much to look at, just a simple run-down house; paint peeling, weeds and grass having been unattended for an unknown amount of time. Walking up to the door, Yoruichi didn't bother knocking, or ringing the doorbell. No, instead she delivered a swift spinning kick to the center of the door, effectively knocking the entire door inside the house. In two pieces. Steeping over the broken door, Yoruichi and Gann continued to walk into the house as if nothing had happened.

Walking into the living room, the duo found the person they had been looking for, Ryo Ishidas. Also commonly known as Riku's father. Ryo was currently out cold on the couch, an empty bottle of vodka still clutched in his hand. Ryo had shaggy, unwashed, uncombed, silver hair, with a matching beard. His clothes consisted of a simple white t-shirt which had been practically worn out from the consecutive days of being worn, and a pair of tan jeans with holes retiling them.

Letting out a long sigh, Gann walked over to Ryo's unconscious form, and effortlessly threw the silver haired man over his shoulder. "Come on you bum, let's get you sobered up."

* * *

Falling. It felt like Cloud was falling, but he couldn't seem to open his eyes. He couldn't fell the air as it rushed past him. He couldn't hear the sound of the air rushing past his ear. He couldn't fell _anything._ It was just an empty void. An empty void filled with darkness. So much darkness that Cloud could see anything; couldn't tell if his eyes were really closed, or they were open and there was nothing to see.

"_Do not be afraid."_

Almost as if those words were the key, Cloud's world was suddenly illuminated so fast that he brought both arms up to shield his eyes. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, Cloud was finally able to make out what he was seeing. It was like a black and white photo of before he had blacked out during his fight with Sephiroth; he was looking at the black and white version of himself lying on the ground, blood pouring out of the wounds on his shoulders. Looking down at his own hands, Cloud noticed that he was still in color, unlike everything around him.

"_Protect her."_

The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, yet at the same time, nowhere. Spinning around somewhat franticly, Cloud continued to look for the source of the mysterious voice. Cloud stopped spinning when his eyes fell on the Keyblade in Rinoa's hands, which was the only other thing in color. "Am I…hearing a sword speak to me?"

"_Train her."_

The voice was still coming from all around him, but the Keyblade had started glowing slightly when the voice spoke again. "You want me to…train her? I thought Keyblade masters were spouse to learn skill from the Keyblades themselves, or wizards or something?" Cloud said, very confused as to why a sword, and he was still getting over the fact that he was talking to a sword, would ask _him_ to train it's wielder.

"_Reunite her with_ him._"_

As soon as the voice said this, the area around Cloud began to dissolve; breaking apart into a million different speaks of black and white, before reforming into another picture-like area. Once he could see the area clearly, Cloud recognized the area immediately. It was a still shot of him and Leon, standing back to back, sword ready to strike the heartless that surrounded them. "I'm either going insane, or this is the real deal," Cloud muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead. Allowing a brief smirk, Cloud continued to say "Either way, looks like I'm going to be playing bodyguard for a while."

* * *

The loud clank of metal walking across the stone floor greeted Maleficent's ears. Turning, the self proclaimed "Mistress of all Evil" nervously gripped her staff as the sounds grew closer. Finally, the massive doors to her "throne room" were flung open, crashing loudly against the walls on either side of the door. Standing in the doorway was non other then Xan, the dark knight Keyblade wielder.

It took Maleficent a moment to get control of her emotions, but once she did, she spoke with her normal confidence in her voice. "Why have you come to MY castle, dark knight?" However, Xan seemed totally unaffected by what most people would consider an intimidating statement. In fact, he was laughing quietly to himself. _"Do not act as if you are not aware of what has happened in the past few days. I have come to tell you this: join my master, or be struck down by my blade."_ Xan's distorted voice echoed throughout the room the two dark users were currently in.

"Oh, and what is stopping me from killing you were you stand, then your master?" Maleficent said, still being able to keep her normal air of confidence around her. _"If you were to fight me, you would lose."_ Xan said, and Maleficent couldn't stop the cold shiver running down her spine. _"Your two sisters have already joined my master, as has Sephiroth, The Horned King, and Jadis the White Witch. You may be powerful, but you would be nothing more then a insect against the power of my master, and his allies."_ Xan said, and Maleficent was no longer able to hide the fear that had been with her ever since feeling Xan enter her castle.

"_Will you serve my master?"_

"I…I will," Maleficent said, hanging her head slightly. Hearing this, Xan let out another bone chilling laugh, before saying something else. _"Then gather all those you are allied with, for we are the Army of Darkness."_

* * *

"I'm _so_ bored," Zell muttered to himself as he stared at the still unconscious Cloud. He had been ordered by the General to take over the watch from Quistis. However, it was becoming very clear that Zell wasn't a very patient person, as he was now pacing back and forth in front of the Buster Sword, taking turn staring at either the sword, or the blonde swordsman.

"I mean, seriously, they couldn't find anyone better for this job?" Zell continued to mutter to himself as he turned away from Cloud, and began walking the few feet towards the end of the room. "They couldn't put Lulu or someone who seems to do nothing but read books in here?"

"Don't complain so much." Zell's heart nearly burst out of his chest when he heard someone talking behind him. Spinning around so fast that he nearly thought he would break his knee, Zell stared in shock at what he saw. Not only was Cloud awake, but also he was sitting up, legs dangling of the side of the bed, head hanging low, heavy breathing coming from him, as he seemed to be struggling to stay up right. Raising his head slightly, Cloud managed a slight nod towards Zell. "What's with that look?" Cloud asked, a very faint amount of humor in his voice at Zell's shocked expression.

"I-wha-you were-how are you-you shouldn't be awake!" Zell finally managed to get out, staring at Cloud as the said blond pulled the IV from his arm, electing a wince from Zell at the very sight of it. "Wait, don't do that! You lost a lot of blood in your fight!" Zell said with a slightly panicked tone as he saw Cloud simply discard the IV without so much as blinking. "I heal fast," Cloud muttered barley above a whisper as brushed a few drops of blood of his arm where the IV had been pulled out.

Turning his head to look at Zell, Cloud spoke up again. "So do you mind telling me what happened?"

END CHAPTER

About Riku's, and his father's last name: I got the idea for Riku's family's last name from a story by ChibiFrubaGirl. If she got the name from somewhere else, I don't know, but it seemed to fit.

Anyways, this might be the only chapter I can get up before the end of the year, so happy holidays everyone.


	4. So many questions

Door of twilight, rewrite

Chapter 4

So many questions

As the small Gummi ship started it's decent into Disney Castle, Sora nervously bounced his leg up and down, not knowing what was about to happen. It hadn't really helped that Sora, Kairi, and Riku had been forced to sit in the back of the small ship, the Gullwings having already taken care of everything that Sora had normally done in a Gummi ship with Donald and Goofy. Having nothing to do but wait out the rather long ride between worlds, Sora had started nervously twitching after his rather poor attempts at striking up a conversation had failed.

"_So," Sora said after a rather long amount of uncomfortable silence went by, "Um…weren't the three of you…tiny the last time I saw you?" As Sora rubbed the back of his head slightly, he noticed that Yuna had been so busy piloting the ship that she hadn't even heard him speak up, and Rikku had a pair of headphones on, music being blasted through them. "Let's just say there was an accident with a shrinking spell, and leave it at that," Paine finally said, before turning back to the screen that showed the turret display. _

_"So…uh, Paine, I noticed that you carry a sword, are you any good with it?" Sora said after another ten minutes of silence. "If you don't mind being stabbed a few times, I'd be happy to show you," Paine said, barley glancing up from the turret screen._

Sora had been completely quite after that remark, finding it better to sit in silence the possibly get stabbed. As the small Gummi ship rocked slightly as it finally touched down in the Castle's hanger, Sora let out a slight sigh of relief. As the six teens stood from their seats, giving of a slight groan as they stretched their bodies out after sitting for so long, a rather small hatch door at the back of the ship opened with a loud _pop_, reminding everyone on board how old the small ship seemed to be.

As Sora hopped out of the spacecraft, landing neatly on the ground with his legs slightly bent, Sora noticed that, unlike the very few other times he had been in Disney Castle, there was actually another Gummi ship in the hanger. This ship was considerably large then the one Sora had just gotten out of, and seemed to be made of a almost completely solid type of Gummi block- the kind that were extremely rare and ran up a large amount of Gil in most shops- rather then the normal jello-like Gummi blocks that most ships, including all that Sora had flown, were made of. The larger ship was also outfitted with almost two dozen high grade laser cannons, each looking like it was ready to blast anything that happened to get caught in the crossfire.

"Get moving before your head gets busted open," Riku yelled as he, Paine, and Kairi all jumped out of the Gummi ship, forcing Sora to jump forwards to avoid getting used as a landing pad. As Yuna and Rikku landed on the ground behind the others, Kairi took a look around the large hanger, noticing something was amiss. "Where is everybody?" Kairi pondered as she continued to look around the deserted hanger. There wasn't even the slightest trace that anyone had been in the hanger for quiet some time now.

"Well this isn't creepy at all," Rikku muttered to herself as the group of six teens slowly made their way through the large hanger, still finding no signs of anybody near by. "Sora, I really don't like this," Kairi said as she, absentmindedly, stepped slightly closer to her spiked-head friend.

"Don't worry about it Kairi," Sora said with a huge grin across his face. "You see, if we were in danger, out Keyblades would materialize in front of us, but since they haven't we should be…" Sora trailed off use three flashes of light drew the attention of all six people present, reveling three very familiar looking swords.

"You had to go and say something, didn't you Sora?" Riku asked as he grabbed his batwing shaped sword from midair. As Sora and Kairi also grabbed their Keyblades, each member of the Gullwings pulled out their respective weapon, trying to be ready for anything.

* * *

"So Zell's having another emotional break down?" Lulu asked with a slight sigh as she, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis, and General Caraway walked through the whitewashed halls of the hospital. "All I know is he said "_He-it's not- he shouldn't- what the hell- …get over here,_" and then he hung up," Irvine said as he, absentmindedly, rested his hand on the hilt of his rifle, which was hanging from his back.

"It could be nothing, but it's better to see if anything's wrong now, then to find out later that we could have stopped it," The General said, not missing Irvine's hand resting on his weapon. "Zell probably just saw something on the news about how easily he was taken down by Sephiroth, and couldn't take it," Lulu muttered to herself as she continued to fallow the General.

As the group of five people past the guards outside Cloud's room, General Caraway turned to one of them. "If you hear anything out of the ordinary, don't hesitate to call for everyone." That being said, the group of people opened the door, Irvine and Quistis going in first…

…And saw Zell sprawled out on the floor, completely unconscious. "What the hell," Irvine said as he, along with everyone else in the room, ran over to their fallen friend. "Zell, what happened to you boy?" The General yelled as he tried to shake Zell into consciousness. "What do you think could have happened? I mean, sure Zell isn't the brightest person to ever live, or the strongest, …and sometimes it may seem like his brain stops working, but he can still put up a good fight when it comes down to it." Lulu said as she looked for any visible injuries on Zell's body.

It was at that moment Quistis heard _something_ move behind the group, close to the door, but still off to the side. Reacting so fast she barely registered the fact in her head, Quistis's hand dropped to her belt, grabbing the metal whip from the holster at a lightning fast speed, before quickly spinning around, arm snapping around in a wide arc, ready to strike whatever was behind her. It wasn't until she felt her ship hit something (something harder then the wall that now had a long gash in it), and heard the loud _clang_ of metal striking metal that she finally saw what was behind the group.

Sitting in the chair by the door, was none other then Cloud, holding then end of Quistis's whip in his left, gauntlet wearing hand. Since his shirt and trench coat-like jacket had several large holes in them, not to mention being soaked in blood, Cloud's torso was covered in nothing but the many layers of gauze and Band-Aids that had been applied after being brought to the hospital.

"He past out about three minutes after calling you."

To say the current occupants in the room where shocked at the fact that the blonde swordsman was talking to them, would be an understatement. Irvine had nearly dropped his rifle. Rinoa looked like she was about to faint. The General was visibly nervous, taking several steps back, however he still managed to be standing in front of Rinoa.

"He looked about like all of you do now right before he passed out," Cloud said, the faintest traces of humor in his voice. Finally dropping the end of Quistis's whip, Cloud continued to stare at the people in front of him…and they continued to stare back.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Not that this isn't fascinating, but could I get a couple answers now?" Cloud asked after several rather unpleasant moments of silence. His voice seemed to snap several others out of their trance-like state, because the General was finally able to regain his composure.

"Of course, however there are several questions we would like to ask you as well," the General said, once again sounding official. "Hm, sounds like a fair trade," Cloud said after a moment of thinking things over. Letting out a slight sigh of relief, the General spoke up again after trying to choose his words carefully. "Well then, how about we start with what your name is?"

"Cloud Strife," the blonde swordsman said without so much as blinking. "So who are all of you?" It was a logical question if you think about it, seeing as how Cloud, for the most part, had no idea who was standing in the room with him.

"Ah, yes. My name is General Caraway, former advisor to king Ansem the Wise, and commander for the military division known as SEED," the elder man spoke up. "Behind me is my daughter, to whom I own you my thanks for saving. To my right there is Quistis Trepe, Irvine Kinneas, and the man on the ground is Zell Dincht, all of whom were a part of SEED before Radian Garden's fall." The general said as he motioned to each person. "And finally there is miss Lulu, a mage whom we met upon arrival on this, the world of Travers Town."

"Now the, I would like to ask you about the sword you carry. It bears the make of SOLDIER, a military group that was unique to Radiant Garden. So my question is rather simple, how did you obtain such a weapon?"

"What's there to say, I joined a recruitment program for SOLDIER when I was nine, and managed to make 3rd class SOLDIER by the time I turned eleven," Cloud said with a slight shrug of his shoulders, however he soon regretted that action as a wave of pain started came from his right shoulder. "There's really only one question left that is of any importance: why do you have a Keyblade?"

* * *

In the depths of the Underworld, realm of the dead, there was an eerie calm. There was an unusual lack of screams and groans of the tortured souls that had been damned to the cursed place. The mighty three-headed daemon dog Cerberus lay still near the entrance of the Underworld, having no real reason to be awake. In the distance both the Rock and Ice Titans were staring blankly at the blank dungeon walls around them. Even the fierce Hydra was lying in its dungeon, having nothing better to do then stare at the blank walls ahead of him. Yes, all was quite…

"YOU WANT ME TO REVIVE WHO?"

…The eerie silence was shattered by the sound of a baffled, and somewhat scared Lord of the Dead. Inside his private chambers, Hades was staring at Maleficent like she was mad, …which, she is really. In Hades' chambers there was also the "Mighty Pete," the escape artist Jafar, and the living bag of worms, Oogie Boogie.

"Have you not be listening, you insolate fool? The Servant has called all of us to the Castle that rests between worlds." The green-skin witch said, fear in her voice. "Between my sisters, and that White Witch, this 'Army of Darkness' already has enough power to surpass us."

"Yeah, I got that much. But two of the people that you want me to bring back from there- it's just not a smart thing to do." Hades fired back, trying to make some type of point. "Hey, I can bring back everyone on your little list _other then those two. _Do you know how hard it was to get them locked away in the deepest dungeon in here? If I let them out, they'll go nuts, and you won't be able to stop them." Hades continued, motioning towards the swirling pit of ectoplasm that leads to the darkest depths of the Underworld.

"Clearly the risk is great, but we need something that will ensure that we don't become enemies of this 'Army.' At lest until we can find a way to surpass the Master, and take control." Jafar put his two since in, making a valid point.

"Jafar is correct, we need something that will make us seem like an undisputable asset," Maleficent said as she stared down into the ectoplasm pit. "While we appear to help this Army of Darkness, only are most trusted underlings shall be searching for a set of very…special magical spells."

"Now hold up, why can't we just use the heartless like before?" Pete said, clearly confused.

"Because chubby, if a stronger dark user comes in contact with one of those heatless, they'll find out about our plans," the living sack of worms spoke up, sounding uncharacteristically smart. "So by sending out our most trusted boys, they might be able to find something without drawing attention to out real goals."

"Hey I'm all for not being blasted by this new army, but your asking me to resurrect people who will most likely kill us before we even have a chance to explain the situation to them." Hades said, still clearly opposing the plan that was being placed in front of him. "I have no problem bringing back everyone else you want, hell, I'll even through in a whole army of undead, but I will not bring back _those two!_"

"Your still not grasping the gravity of the situation," Maleficent hissed, glaring daggers at the Lord of the Dead. "Even with all five of us combined, our powers pale before that of the combined strength of Jadis, Edea, and Ultimecia, not to mention that the Horned King has also joined with them. We _need_ people whose power is so great that they make _us _fear them to have any sort of advantage against this 'Army.'"

Hades stopped, and seemed to emit a growl from deep in his throat, before he said anything else. "You want to play with fire? That's fine by me, just don't blame me when you get burned." Without another word, Hades turned back to the swirling pit of ectoplasm, and raised both hands. A slight flicker, and swirling orbs of fire had engulfed the hands of the Lord of the Dead. As the flames grew brighter, the ectoplasm seemed to be responding, as it had started to swirl faster, and emit a very bright green glow.

After several long, suspense building moments, Hades finally flung both orbs of fire onto in the pit ectoplasm, causing a pillar of smoke to erupt from said pit. Even before the smoke had fully cleared, Maleficent could make out the edges of a tattered red cloak fluttering in the draft that Hades had inadvertently caused by bringing someone, or something out of the dungeon.

As Maleficent stepped forwards to say something, most likely to try and persuade those whom she had convinced Hades to bring back to join her cause, she noticed that the tattered red cloak seemed to disappear for a moment. However, as she was opening her mouth to speak, a long leathery hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. Maleficent, the self-proclaimed "Mistress of all Evil," suddenly found herself pinned against the far wall by a…thing.

The best way to describe the beast in front of her would be to call it a demon. It stood almost ten feet tall, and its skin was a sickly light blue color. It currently had no shoes on, revealing it's three-toed feet, long claws coming off each toe. Starting at the creature's knees, there was a pair of torn and tattered black jeans, which appeared to have been with the creature for some time. Around it's waist, there was a tattered red cloak with a high collar, hanging down near his ankles in the back. As for the creature's torso, starting at its chest there was a very extravagant chest plate, the bars curving to make several jagged points, in a slight silver color. On the beast's shoulders, there were very jagged shoulder guards, which came down to right above the elbow on each arm; the only difference between these and the chest plate was that these were a jet-black color. The creature's head was similar to that of a wolf's, with a long snout, jagged teeth that were visible, and glowing orange eyes. Finally, the creature had long silver hair the spilled down over its shoulders and down near its waist, with a long pair of silver horns coming out the top of its head.

"So are you still sure you want me to bring out _those_ two? I mean, if you can barley handles this guy, then what chance do you have against _them_?" Hades said as he watched Maleficent struggle to break from of the demon's grip. As Maleficent gasped for breath, she managed to raise her staff, readying to unleash a powerful blast of dark magic upon the demon…

…And had her staff quickly knocked out of her hand and to the other side of the room by a clawed leathery hand. As the beast stared down at her, it let out a deep growl from his throat, before turning at throwing her to the other side of the room with a simple flick of his wrist. As the beast turned around, a sickening snarl formed at his mouth as he slowly started to move towards Hades, a murderous intent in his eyes.

"Hey now big guy, you really don't want to go off attacking the only guy that can give you what you want, do you?" Hades asked, though fear was still clearly present in his voice. "You- you heard right! I'll let you out of the slammer, and all you have to do is lay waste to a couple of people, what do you say?" Hades soon found himself with a very hard stonewall behind him, preventing him from retreating any farther from the angered beast.

"What if what We want is your blood?" The demon finally spoke, his voice sounding like several people were talking at once. "We do not need you to _let us out_ of this place. No, you need _Us_ to help you with something, and We have no reason to help you."

"I can give you a kingdom to rule over, and army at your command, the strongest warriors you can find to fight for you, or, if you so wish, against you. Whatever you want I can give you, and all I ask is for you is to help me remove several people who seek to destroy my rule." Maleficent spoke up, having pulled herself to her feet once more.

"What I want, no one can bring back." The demons voice was different now, sounding more like a deep male voice, then that of a bloodthirsty demon. Without warning, the demon's body was engulfed in a dark purple glow, before it began to shrink. Before anyone had a chance to react, the same tattered red cloak that had been around the demon suddenly burst forwards, flying right out the small window in the stonewall. The strangest thing about that was that there was nothing in the cloak, it was totally empty; like it was moving on its own.

"THAT is exactly why I told you bringing people from your list back was a bad idea. And that guy wasn't even one of the two I _really_ don't want to bring back." Hades yelled as he saw the last flickers of red disappear in the distance. "And now I've got a complete nut job running around MY Underworld!"

"So what if a mere pawn decided to run away? The game can still be won with the rook, knight, bishop, and king." Maleficent said as she picked her staff up off the ground, her close call with death having no apparent effect on her ego.

"Now hold up there little green lady! If that boy was the pawn, then I sure don't want to see what the king would be like," Oogie Boogie said, waving his arms in protest. "I'd rather take my chances against this army we've been talking about with what we have no, rather then risk getting cut up trying to get some big bad powerful guy to help us out!"

"Listen here you insufferable bag of larva! You do not know my sisters as I do! Ultimecia will beat us down, cut our legs out from under us, and take the credit for our accomplishments every chance she gets! And Edea would more likely blow your head off then work with you. We NEED something to give us the edge, otherwise we will not survive this 'alliance.'"

"Hey, hey, hey, no need to dig up all the issues you have with your sisters," Hades said as he tried to cut off whatever rant Maleficent may have been planning. "Alright, the way I see it is like this: we either risk getting killed right here and now while trying to get an edge over your sisters, or we risk being killed _by_ your sisters and the other members of this army. Either way, we risk being killed in a horrifying way. So personally, I'd rather risk dieing here, on my home turf then out there, on their home turf." Hades said as he walked back towards the swirling pit of ectoplasm.

"Alright boys, it's SHOW TIME!" Hades screamed as he flung two more large orbs of fire into the pit.

* * *

"You- you know what a Keyblade is?" General Caraway asked in mild disbelief, still getting over Cloud's last question. I mean, lets face it, if _your_ daughter suddenly got a mysterious sword, and the man saved her life started talking about it like it was an everyday conversation item, you would be slightly shocked too.

"I'm not an expert, but I know a little bit about them, yes." The blonde swordsman replied, having learned by now to not make any motion with his shoulders when answering a question. "Something I do know about them is that they chose the person that wields them, and that that person must have a strong heart. So that brings me back to my question: why do you have a Keyblade?"

"I-I-I don't know. It just appeared in my hand before Sephiroth could…" Rinoa let the sentence trail off, not being able to admit how close to death she had come. As Rinoa unintentionally bit her lower lip, Cloud massaged his forehead with his right hand.

"Keyblade aside, there is one thing that I need to know: why was Sephiroth after my daughter?" The general said after a moment of uneasy silence. "Tch, beats me. As far as I know, the only people that Sephiroth has been consecutively hunting for the past ten years have all been strong swordsmen, most of whom are now dead." Cloud said as he leaned back in his chair, before letting out a long sigh. "The only reason I can think of would be that Sephiroth somehow knew that Rinoa would have the Keyblade, and wanted to remove a future threat."

"This is- I- Rinoa I want you to stay at home for the timing being. Either Zell, Irvine, Lulu, or Quistis will be with you at all times, and there will be armed guards on post twenty-four-seven." The general said before taking out a cellular phone and calling someone, most likely another SEED agent. After several moments of barking orders into the phone, the general hung up and turned to Irvine. "Kinneas, I want you to take Zell back to my house and out him in a spare bedroom, then you're on guard duty with Lulu."

Cloud was amazed at how fast General Caraway had managed to not only make the arrangements for his daughters protection, but also said something about Cloud "staying in the hospital to rest for the night, before answering some more questions in the morning!" And as Irvine hauled Zell over his shoulder, Cloud noticed how fast the people in the room seemed to leave, saying next to nothing as they left.

And when the door had shut, Cloud noticed that someone hadn't left yet. Turning his head slightly, Cloud saw that Quistis was still standing in the same spot she had been for the better part of a half-hour. "What?" Short, simple, and two the point was the way Cloud preferred to communicate, and he was going to do just that.

"How did you know Rinoa's name when the General only referred to her as 'my daughter?'" Cloud noticed that Quistis had a look in her eyes that he had seen many times. The look of someone who had seen more battle then anyone should ever have to. Combine that with the fact he had seen her whip cut through the wall behind him like it was butter, and the fact that he was still heavily injured, Cloud really didn't want to start something with this woman right now.

"Must have heard it somewhere else." The answer clearly wasn't something that Quistis was going to be, since she continued to glare at Cloud through her glasses.

"Forgive me for being skeptical, but you just _happen_ to show up right as Sephiroth attacks, and manage to fight off one of the strongest swordsmen to ever live? Sounds a little too good to be true if you ask me." Quistis said, her voice remaining calm as she stated her doubt.

"I showed up at the right time because I've been trying to find Sephiroth for almost ten years now, and this was the only place where he's shown himself to a large group of people in over a year." Cloud said, trying to state the facts while going into as little detail as possible.

"You want me to believe that you've been hunting Sephiroth since Radiant Garden was overrun by the heartless? That would have made you what, thirteen when you started hunting him?" Quistis said, disbelief in her voice.

"Look, it doesn't matter if you trust me or not, but the fact is that, if anything, I know this about Sephiroth: once he starts hunting you, you'd better run, and run far, because he will never give up."

Before Quistis had a chance to reply, a loud beeping came from a beeper that was hanging from her waist. Looking at the message on, Quistis cast once last glance at Cloud, before turning and walking out the door.

END

All right, this chapter may be a little late, but it's slightly longer then normal. Again, I'd like to state that homework is pure evil, as it has slowed my writing down by over seventy percent.


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